His attention shifted to the botanical section of the exhibit. He thought he recognized the back of the man who was standing in front of a row of potted herbs.
“I wonder what he’s doing here?” he muttered without thinking.
“Um-m-m?” said the Bishop of Winchester. “Who?”
“Oh. I beg your pardon. I thought I recognized a colleague of my master, Lord Darcy, but I couldn’t be sure, since his back is turned.”
“Where?” asked my lord the Bishop, turning his head.
“Over at the botanical display. Isn’t that Lord Bontriomphe, Chief Investigator for London? It looks like him from here.”
“Yes, I believe it is. The Marquis of London, as you may know, makes a hobby of cultivating rare and exotic herbs. Very likely he sent Bontriomphe down here to look over the displays. My lord the Marquis leaves his palace but seldom, you know. Dear me! Look at the time! Why, it’s after nine! I had no idea it was so late! I must deliver an address at ten this morning, and I promised Father Quinn, my Healer, that I’d have a short session with him before that. You must excuse me, Master Sean.”
“Of course, my lord. It has been most pleasant.” Master Sean took the outstretched hand, bowed, and kissed the ring.
“Indeed, I found it most enlightening, Master Sean. Good day.”
“Good day, my lord.”
Physician, heal thyself, Master Sean thought wryly. The phrase was archaic only in that Healers no longer relied on “physick” to heal their patients. When the brilliant genius, St. Hilary Robert, worked out the laws of magic in the Fourteenth Century, the “leech” and the “physician” might have heard their death knell ringing from the bell tower of the little English monastery at Walsingham, where St. Hilary lived. Not everyone could use the laws; only those who had the Talent. But the ceremony of healing by the Laying On of Hands had, from that time on, become as reliable as it had been erratic before. However, it was still easier to see — and to remove — the speck in one’s brother’s eye than to see the beam in one’s own. Besides, my lord of Winchester was a very old man, and the two ailments still incurable by the finest Healers were old age and death.
Master Sean looked back at the botanical display, but Lord Bontriomphe had vanished while the Bishop was taking his leave, and, look as he might, the tubby little Irish sorcerer could not locate the Chief Investigator of London anywhere in the crowd.
The Triennial Convention of Healers and Sorcerers was an event which Master Sean always looked forward to with pleasure, but this time the pleasure had soured — badly. To find that a paper, which one had been researching for three years and writing on for six months, has been almost exactly paralleled by the work of another is not conducive to overwhelming joy. Still, there was no help for it, Sean thought, and, besides, Sir James Zwinge felt as upset about it as Sean O Lochlainn did.
“Ah! Good morning, Master Sean! You slept well last night, I trust?” The brisk, rather dry voice came from Master Sean’s left.
He turned quickly and gave a medium bow. “Good morning, Grand Master,” he said pleasantly. “I slept reasonably well, thank you. And you?”
Master Sean had not slept well, and the Grand Master not only knew he hadn’t but knew why he hadn’t. But not even Master Sean O Lochlainn would argue with Sir Lyon Gandolphus Grey, K.G.L., M.S., Th.D., F.R.T.S., Grand Master of the Most Ancient and Honorable Guild of Sorcerers.
“As well as yourself,” said Sir Lyon. “But at my age, one must not expect to sleep well. I should like to introduce you to a promising young man.”
The Grand Master was an imposing figure, tall, thin almost to the point of emaciation, yet with an aura of strength about him, both physical and psychical. His hair was silvery gray, as was the rather long beard which he affected. His eyes were deep-set and piercing, his nose thin and aquiline, his brows bushy and overshadowing.
But Master Sean had known the Grand Master so long that his face and figure were too familiar to be remarkable. The tubby little Irish sorcerer found his eyes drawn to the young man who stood next to Sir Lyon.
The man was of average height, taller than Master Sean but not nearly as tall as Sir Lyon Grey. The sleeves of his blue dress suit were slashed with white, denoting a Journeyman Sorcerer, instead of the silver of a Master. It was his face which drew Master Sean’s attention. The skin was a dark reddish-brown, the nose broad and well shaped, the nearly black pupils of his eyes almost hidden beneath heavy lids. His mouth was pleasantly smiling and rather wide.
“Master Sean,” said Sir Lyon, “may I present Journeyman Lord John Quetzal, fourth son of His Gracious Highness, the Duke of Mechicoe.”
“A pleasure to meet your lordship,” Master Sean said with a slight bow.
Lord John Quetzal’s bow was much deeper, as befitted Journeyman to Master. “I have looked forward to this meeting, Master,” he said in almost flawless Anglo-French. Master Sean could detect only the slightest trace of the accent of Mechicoe, one of the southernmost duchies of New England, not far north of the isthmus which connected the continent of New France. But then, one would expect a regional accent from a scion of the Moqtessuma family.
“Lord John Quetzal,” said Sir Lyon, “has determined to take up the study of forensic sorcery, and I feel he will do admirably in that field. And now, if you will excuse me, I must see the Program Committee and check up on the agenda.”
And Master Sean found himself left with Journeyman Lord John Quetzal. He gave the young man his best Irish smile. “Well, your lordship, I see that you’re not only quite intelligent but that you have a powerful Talent.”
The young Mechicain’s face took on an expression of startled awe.
“You can tell that just by looking?” he asked in a hushed voice.
Master Sean’s smile broadened. “No, I deduced it.” Lord Darcy should hear me now, he thought.
“Deduced it? How?”
“Why, bless you,” Master Sean said with a chuckle, “the introduction you got from Grand Master Sir Lyon was enough to tell me that. ‘A promising young man,’ he calls you. ‘I feel he will do admirably,’ he says. Why, Sir Lyon Grey wouldn’t introduce the King himself that way, the King having no Talent to speak of. If you have impressed the Grand Master, you come highly recommended indeed. Further, I can deduce that you’re not the kind of lad who’d let praise go to his head — else the Grand Master wouldn’t have said such a thing in your hearing.”
Master Sean could sense that there was an embarrassed blush rising up beneath the young man’s smooth mahogany skin, and quickly changed the subject. “What’s been your specialty so far?”
Lord John Quetzal swallowed. “Why… uh… black magic.”
Master Sean stared, shocked. He could not have been more shocked if a Healer or chirurgeon had announced that he specialized in poisoning people.
The young Mechicain aristocrat looked even more flustered for a second or two, but he regained control quickly. “I don’t mean I practice it! Good Heavens!” He looked round as if he were afraid someone might have overheard. Satisfied that no one had, he returned his attention to Master Sean. “I don’t mean I practice it,” he repeated in a lower voice. “I’ve been studying it with a view to its prevention, you see. I know you haven’t much of it here in Europe, but… well, Mechicoe isn’t the same. Even after four hundred years, there are still believers in the Old Religion — especially the worship of Huitsilopochtelie, the old War God. Not in the cities, or even in most of the rural farming areas, but in the remote places of the mountains and the jungles.”